Vale's POV

"Crap..." Spinning to face Obi-Wan, I whine, "It wasn't my fault. I swear!"

"Of course it wasn't. Everything apparently breaks around you."

He shakes his head while pushing the broken glass into a pile and glancing around us in the hall. No one is around at the moment to witness us trying to hide the pieces of a priceless vase in the Jedi Temple.

Sending me a look, Obi-Wan hides the pieces behind the stand it was on. Standing back up and grabbing my arm, he guides us down the hall quickly. I roll my eyes at his persistence while whispering, annoyed.

"I can walk myself! Let go."

"Honestly, V. It's been five years and you're still the same mess of a person." He snaps in a low tone while directing us toward the door we're supposed to meet Qui-Gon, "I should have known from the moment I laid eyes on you."

"Oh, Obi-Wan... Keep sweet talking me."

I moan out sarcastically, causing him to blush. His eyes glance at mine in irritation while I raise an eyebrow at him challenging. I don't have to ask to know I've been a pain in Kenobi's ass since the day we met. For the last five years, he's been cleaning up my messes, looking after me and saving my ass from getting kicked out of the Jedi Order.

He's nineteen years old and I'm fifteen, so of course I'm not as mature as him. In my defense, he doesn't give me the chance to show maturity. He always steps in like my father used to.

Qui-Gon's not blind to this either; he knows I'm still a mess of tricks and accidents. The only difference from me five years ago and now is my strength, skills with a light saber and the force. However, I still get myself into a situation that one of them has to bail me out of.

I sense it's for Qui-Gon to prove to the Jedi Council that I don't need another Master. I rather not have a different master either. He's not like most of them, which is why he isn't on the council. I find it easier to accept failure and my messes because of him being my Master. Which might be a reason I'm still a handful to this day.

"When we go inside, don't even think about the vase." Obi-Wan mumbles when we reach the door, "He'll sense it in your mind and know."

"Wow. Really?" I frown his way and fold my arms while stating sarcastically, "I didn't know Jedi can do that."

Shaking his head, Obi-Wan shoves me lightly before walking in first. Groaning to myself, I follow him in. He always acts like I'm a burden to him, but I secretly know he'd be terribly bored without me. Since the day we've trained together, he's tried to be the precise image of a Jedi Knight.

I've never seen him do one wrong thing. Without me, his life would be utterly boring from being so perfect. I know I'm not as practical or controlled as him, but I learn better from making flaws. He, however, only needs to learn it once to do it to perfection.

Coming to Obi-Wan's side, I find Yoda standing beside Qui-Gon in the training room. My expression stiffens; no one told me he's be accompanying us. The Masters turn to face us; they smile at both of us and my mind immediately goes to the image of the broken vase.

It was from the old Republic and I know it was because it had a young Yoda symbol on it. I instantly feel guilt growing from thinking Yoda might actually have sentimental value for it. Walking up to them, I watch Yoda's smile fall slightly before bringing it back up and speak.

"That vase... I look good in, I did not."

"Sorry, Master..." I blurt out and watch Qui-Gon frown, glancing between the three of us. I don't have to peep over to Obi-Wan to know he's displeased with me. Stepping forward with his cane, Yoda points at us with his head tilted. "Here to see your progress, I am."

"This isn't a test," Qui-Gon comments while nodding to us, "We just want a demonstration of what I've taught you."

I nod back to the Masters before glancing at Obi-Wan and backing away from him. When we are a few feet apart, we bow to one another before standing up straight again. His eyes meet mind reassuringly as he takes his blade from his belt. I watch his gaze and know he's silently telling me everything will be okay. Taking my saber from my hip, I activate my orange blade and take my stance: Qui-Gon's shown me over the years.

Obi-Wan goes into his own blue blade and shortly nods at me to start. Turning my body and spinning my blade, I aim at his waist. He blocks it quickly and pushes against it, making my back foot step back an inch. Turning my body the other way, I force his blade higher between our bodies. He hits my blade for some space before swinging it quickly. I block his attack with my blade while backing up.

He's forcing me back toward a wall, and without thinking, I jump to attack above him. My saber hits his own and I urge my body to flip over him. I land on my feet behind and spin to hit him in the side. Obi-Wan blocks it without turning to face me, but then turns around with his blade holding back mine. We promptly go into a sparring one another, forgetting Qui-Gon and Yoda are watching. At the moment, my only focus is on my partner in the Jedi Order.

Feeling myself getting force back into another wall, I growl and kick his leg under our blades. He falls back just as I pounce on top of him. He brings his blade up to mine and locks one leg around mine before spinning up over on the ground. Pushing his weight onto the saber from above for a moment, I lower my blade closer to my body from his force. As if he senses I'm losing strength from this position, Obi-Wan puts less weight on his blade. I'm able to push our blades up closer to him, but before I can get myself out of this situation, Yoda announces.

"Seen enough, I have. At ease, Padawans."

Shutting down his saber, Obi-Wan hooks it back to his belt and stands up. When I shut my saber off, Obi-Wan brings a hand toward me to help me stand. Clipping my saber back to my hip, I grab his hand and stand up in front of him. We let go of our hands and face Yoda, who seems to stare at us knowingly. Stepping toward us, Yoda explains in a disapproval tone.

"Go easier on her, you shall not young Kenobi." Pointing his stick as he continues, "Her failure strengthens her. If you don't push her, learn... She will not. Young Palpatine... Rely on yourself, not others to help. When facing an enemy, alone, you might be." Turning to glance at Qui-Gon, Yoda smirks at him knowingly. "An excellent team, they make together. Proud, you must be. I sense training them together these past years served them well. Too well. Unfortunately, co-dependent, they might be."

"Vale's still learning to be independent, Master Yoda." Qui-Gon points out while coming to stand behind him, "Give her a few years and she'll no longer need to rely on Obi-Wan."

"Hm, perhaps..." Yoda walks around the two of us before poking Kenobi's leg with his stick, "Needs to have faith in her, perhaps. Too protective over her, you've become young Kenobi."

Smirking, I glance at Obi-Wan in a surprise state, causing me to stifle a laugh. He shoots daggers from his eyes in my direction, and I glance away. Peeking at Yoda, I see him looking at me and wink before walking to stand in front of us. Similar to the Queens of Naboo, Yoda has become appreciative of my sense of humor and antics. Perhaps we all have a childlike sense of humor, unlike Obi-Wan. When Yoda stands in front of both of us, he declares with a warm expression.

"Proud of you, I am. Grown a lot in your training, but heed my word. Relax, eat. Dismissed, you both are."

"Thank you."

Obi-Wan and I say together before turning around and heading out the door. Smirking his way, I find him roll his eyes as we leave the room. Walking side by side, I flip my hair back; it's to my breasts now since leaving Naboo. Glancing at Obi-Wan and his Padawan braid, I move closer to his side and whisper smugly.

"Over protective, you are. Young Kenobi."

"I'm just following our Master's orders."

"Too well, if you ask me." I snort and elbow him in the side before skipping around him. When I face him, I walk backwards with him in front of me. Sticking out my touch, I state all too pleased, "I guess, you aren't as perfect at following orders as I thought."

"Vale." Obi-Wan pinches the bridge of his nose, tired of my jokes, "Yoda told us to eat and relax... Why don't you go find some of your friends and eat with them..."

"But..." I stop walking backwards as he passes me in the hall. I turn around to face his back as I think to myself. "I don't have any friends." Peering back to him, I jog back to his side, suggesting, "And I'm not going to eat alone. No way." Shoving him lightly I announce, "I'll just eat with you."

"Hm, here's food for thought." Obi-Wan pretends to think seriously before asking, "Why don't you have any friends, V?" Sighing dramatically beside him, I listen to him answer himself, "It wouldn't have anything to do with your recklessness, would it?"

"It's not my fault they don't know how to live." I shrug my shoulders while grabbing his arm and tugging him faster to the refectory, "AND, maybe I don't have friends because you're too over protective around me."

"Okay, fine. Never again." Obi-Wan sulks from me teasing him again about what Yoda said. "I won't clean up any more messes for you. Ever."

"Oh, come on. You don't mean that..." I look back at him grinning, "What would you even do with your all that free time if you don't?"

"Enjoy it."

"Pretend all you want, Young Kenobi." I snap while letting go of his arm and walking ahead of him announcing, "But, you'll miss me terribly when the day comes that I'm not by your side anymore."

Not peering over my shoulder at him, I turn the corner toward the refectory. He can put up an act all he wants, but I know he'll miss me when we're no longer together as Qui-Gon's padawans. He can complain about my messes, act bored in my company and even try insulting me. It won't change my opinion of him.

I know he cares for my wellbeing as a friend. If he doesn't, he'd let me fail training, get kicked out of the Jedi Order and even report me to our Master. He never has, though. I secretly believe it's because he enjoys me being his responsibility. It's like a challenge for him and a true Jedi never turns away from a challenge.

~Days Later~

"What the hell happened to you?"

"I fell and my head hit the corner of a table..."

I lie as I move to sit down on Obi-Wan's cott, groaning as he heads to his bathroom. I had entered Obi-Wan's room, unannounced, holding the side of my face in pain. The right side of my face as a large cut that's dripping blood. I'm covering the cut so the blood won't get on the floor or my clothes. The moment Obi-Wan saw me, he jumped out of the bed panicking at the sight of me.

I see the book he had been reading seconds ago carelessly laying on his bedside table. There's been a few times where I snuck into Obi-Wan's room hurt because I didn't want to go to the medical bay. They'd ask me tons of questions and I'd accidentally slip out the truth. It usually got me into a heap of trouble. So if there's a way to get to Kenobi's room without being spotted, I'll do that first. Glancing around the room, I hear him call out from his bathroom.

"You really expect me to believe that, V?"

"No..." I pout while glancing to my feet, "Do you think Qui-Gon will, though?"

"Only if I agree with you." He groans to himself while coming out with cloth and a tube of some sort. "What was it this time? Be honest or I'll tell him you're lying when he sees it."

"I was snooping on a ship that had just come back from a mission when I heard someone coming in."

I explain in boredom while watching him pull a chair in front of me. I've always been good at sneaking around from my time living on Naboo and my slam figure. I've snuck into tons of places since living in the Jedi Temple. Obi-Wan sends me a look; I know all too well when I've messed things up for him. Sitting on the chair and grasping my hand covering my cut, Kenobi pulls it away and begins dabbing the cloth on the cut. Holding back a hiss, I continue with my story.

"I panicked and ran to hide when I hit my head on a broken pipe..."

"I see... Well," Obi-Wan sighs while cleaning my face of any more blood, "I think Qui-Gon will understand the steel tables in the refectory are sharp enough to break the skin when falling."

My lips curl at his words when realizing he's improving my lie for me. Once again, I feel grateful for having the same Master as him; I wish I could say the same for Obi-Wan. Watching him pull the cloth away from my face, I wait for him to unscrew the tube open. Squeezing out the liquid, he lifts his eyes back up to me and spreads the goo on my cut. Holding back my smile, I mumble while glancing at my bloody hand.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

He whispers while putting more on his fingers to cover the rest of my cut. Once it's applied, he wipes his fingers on the cloth and closes the tub. He's used that tube on me so many times over the years that I'm surprised it's not empty yet. The goo will dry in a half an hour as a thin layer of skin over my cut so it won't stop bleeding. My cut will look red until it does dry, though, so I'll have to lie low for now. Handing me the cloth so I can clean my hand, Obi-Wan blurts out loud.

"I'm going to start having you pay. This stuff isn't just handed out to everyone, you know."

"I know."

I sigh and lay back on his bed, sulking at my failure to successfully sneak out of the ship. Listening to Obi-Wan rummage into something around his room, my mind wanders to Padme. During the time I lived in Naboo, she'd help me hide things like this from my father. Well, not really, only give me ideas on how to hide it. She's very good at solving things for her age, same as Obi-Wan. I can solve nothing myself. In my defense, I don't try hard to do it myself when I know I can go to someone like Obi-Wan or Padme. As if Obi-Wan senses what's on my mind, he speaks up while taking the bloody rag from my hand.

"You'll learn to count on yourself, V. Give it time."

"I sense I will always need someone."

"I'm just curious... But, if you believe you'll always need the help of others..." Obi-Wan comes it sit beside me on his bed. He tilts his head and looks over at me, saying, "Why'd you leave your home? You had your father, friends, the Queen adored you... What made you decide to leave everything behind?"

"This might sound strange, insane even... but, the force called me to do so." I murmur while staring up at the ceiling as I think about the night I decided to leave Naboo, "Like it was summoning me to leave everything to seek something greater."

"It's not strange, Vale." Obi-Wan sighs and nudges my arm while plopping to lie down beside me, "The light side is a calling only a few hear... And I believe there's a purpose for it. You might just have to wait to find out your purpose."

"What purpose could the light side have for me when I face failure time after time?" I whisper while poking at the goo on my cut. Obi-Wan whacks my hand away from my forehead. I glare at him and he raises a challenging eyebrow. Dropping my hands to my laps, I face away from him again. Sighing to himself, Kenobi answers my question with a light encouragement tone. "I'm not sure... But, when you find out. I hope I'm there to see it."

Peeking over at him, I see him staring up at the ceiling with his hands folded on his stomach. He seems to think about something that puts a sorrow crease in his brow. Staring up at the ceiling with him, I bite my bottom lip to stop myself from smiling. Over the years, we have found a drop of friendship between us. I'd never say it to his face, but I respect him dearly and entrust him as much as I trust our Master. It's only now, though, at this moment; I see he thinks of me in the same light, no matter my flaws. Sitting up, I speak up in the silence with a crooked smile.

"We have some time before my cut heals... Do you want to play Sabacc?"

"Why don't we do something that won't get us expelled, Vale? Just to spice things up."

A/N: FOR MORE CHAPTERS: story/281836869-the-chancellor%27s-daughter